Crooks target cars at Covington hotels, businesses

Image 1 of 22

Covington Police are looking for some thieves who target hotel parking lots in the area, looking for anything of value. Investigators said they are concerned because they may be armed.

This week, some hotel guests came out to the parking lot to find their cars ransacked with locks broken or windows smashed.

Surveillance footage shows a car pull into a Hampton Inn parking lot before three people get out.

"People are coming down to our area, getting off I-20, hitting locations where they know there will be multiple cars there and in this case, there are a number of vehicles broken into," said Captain Ken Malcom, Covington Police Department.

Captain Malcom said they did not just hit the Hampton Inn, they also struck at the LaQuinta Inn which is just a few miles away.

"They're trying to pop locks, there's a method where they can go in. In some cases, makes and models of vehicles they can unlock the vehicle that way, also they're breaking out windows," said Capt. Malcom.

In the Hampton Inn cases, the criminals took two handguns.

And police said it is not just hotels. Cars parked at businesses during the day were also hit. Police said two guns were stolen in those cases as well.

Police do not think the cases are related, but stress the importance of not leaving anything in your car.

"You hear this, it's like a broken record from police. You don't want to leave any valuables in your car, you don't want to entice someone to take it. It's sometimes hard for us to remember, we're traveling, we have things on our mind but police take your valuables out when you go in a hotel, business or lock them in the trunk to make it more difficult for the bad guys to get your stuff," said Capt. Malcom.